Method and apparatus for separated connections of uplink and downlink

ABSTRACT

Provided is a method and an apparatus for uplink and downlink separated connections, wherein a terminal may establish a downlink cell association with a downlink base station, receive an identifier of an uplink base station providing an uplink from the downlink base station to the terminal through an established downlink, and establish an uplink cell association with the uplink base station using the identifier of the uplink base station, and the downlink base station may select the uplink base station from among base stations in a network based on an uplink reference signal and a bias factor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.15/173,635, filed on Jun. 4, 2016, and allowed on Feb. 14, 2017, whichis a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/229,300, filed on Mar.28, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,392,633, issued on Jul. 12, 2016). Theseapplications claim the priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2013-0033568, filed on Mar. 28, 2013, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office. The disclosures of all these applications areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for terminalconnections, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus forseparated uplink and downlink terminal connections.

2. Description of the Related Art

In a heterogeneous cellular network, a difference in transmission powerand antenna gain may occur among base stations. In a case of connectingto a base station based on the transmission power of one of a downlinkand an uplink, a loss in a signal to interference noise ratio (SINR) maybe incurred on the other due to the difference. Thus, an issue of SINRunfairness may arise in the downlink and the uplink.

In general, a transmission power of a macrocell base station may berelatively greater than a transmission power of a femtocell basestation. Thus, in the heterogeneous cellular network, a difference incoverage areas of the base stations may occur due to the difference inthe transmission power and the antenna gain among the base stations.

Coverage of the macrocell base station having a relatively greatertransmission power may be larger than a coverage area of the femtocellbase station. Accordingly, a greater number of terminals may connect tothe macrocell base station, and a load balancing issue in terms of adisproportionate number of terminals being connected to each of the basestations may arise. To solve such an issue, a method of determining anew terminal connection may be required.

Coverage of a cell association based on a downlink signal may differfrom coverage of a cell association based on an uplink. Thus, an optimalcell association based on the downlink may differ from an optimal cellassociation based on the uplink.

When a terminal performs a cell association with a single base station,the terminal may generally perform the cell association with the basestation based on the downlink signal. Accordingly, the terminal may notperform a cell association with an optimal base station in terms of theuplink and thus, the loss in the SINR may occur and the issue ofunfairness between an SINR of the downlink and an SINR of the uplink mayarise.

Moreover, a protocol for the cell association based on the uplink maynot be found in conventional standards and technologies. Therefore, amethod of and a protocol for determining a separate cell association inrelation to the uplink may be needed.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present invention provides a method and an apparatusthat may perform separate connections with respect to a downlink and anuplink.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method and anapparatus that may determine an uplink base station based on a strengthof a received signal and a bias factor.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided anoperating method of a terminal performed by the terminal includingestablishing a downlink cell association with a first base station,receiving an identifier of a second base station providing an uplinkfrom the first base station to the terminal through a downlink, andestablishing an uplink cell association with the second base stationbased on the identifier of the second base station.

The operating method of the terminal may further include transmitting anuplink reference signal to base stations.

The second base station may be selected from among the base stations bythe first base station.

The first base station may determine the second base station based on astrength of the uplink reference signal and a bias factor transmittedfrom each base station.

The uplink reference signal may include an identifier of the first basestation and an identifier of the terminal.

The operating method of the terminal may further include receiving adownlink reference signal from each base station, measuring a strengthof the downlink reference signal, and selecting the first base signalfrom among the base stations based on the measured strength.

The operating method of the terminal may further include communicatingusing the uplink and the downlink.

The terminal may receive downlink control information for the downlinkthrough a downlink control channel of the first base station and receiveuplink control information for the uplink through a downlink controlchannel of the second base station.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan operating method of a base station performed by the base stationincluding establishing a downlink cell association with a terminal,receiving a strength of an uplink reference signal from each basestation, determining an uplink base station providing an uplink to theterminal based on the strength of the uplink reference signal, andtransmitting an identifier of the determined uplink base station to theterminal.

The determining may be performed based on the uplink reference signaland a bias factor transmitted from each base station.

The bias factor may be determined based on at least one of an averagetransmission rate of each base station and an average transmission rateof the terminal.

The strength of the uplink reference signal may be transmitted to thebase station through a backhaul network between the base station andeach base station.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a terminal including a processing unit and a networking unit.The processing unit may establish a downlink cell association with afirst base station through the networking unit. The networking unit mayreceive an identifier of a second base station providing an uplink fromthe first base station to the terminal through a downlink, and theprocessing unit may establish an uplink cell association with the secondbase station based on the identifier of the second base station throughthe networking unit.

The networking unit may transmit an uplink reference signal to basestations.

The second base station may be selected from among the base stations bythe first base station.

The first base station may determine the second base station based on astrength of the uplink reference signal and a bias factor transmittedfrom each base station.

The networking unit may receive a downlink reference signal from eachbase station.

The processing unit may measure a strength of the downlink referencesignal and select the first base station from among the base stationsbased on the measured strength.

The processing unit may communicate using the uplink and the downlinkthrough the networking unit.

The terminal may receive downlink control information for the downlinkthrough a downlink control channel of the first base station and receiveuplink control information for the uplink through a downlink controlchannel of the second base station.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a base station including a processing unit and a networkingunit. The processing unit may establish a downlink cell association witha terminal through the networking unit. The networking unit may receivea strength of an uplink reference signal from each base station, and theprocessing unit may determine an uplink base station providing an uplinkto the terminal based on the strength of the uplink reference signal.The networking unit may transmit an identifier of the determined uplinkbase station to the terminal.

The processing unit may determine the uplink base station based on thestrength of the uplink reference signal and a bias factor transmittedfrom each base station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects, features, and advantages of the inventionwill become apparent and more readily appreciated from the followingdescription of exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a base stationaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a connection method of a terminal that separates anuplink according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates signal flow in an operating method of a networkaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a communication method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a cell area according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating a coverage probability of an uplink in acase of a divided terminal connection according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. Exemplary embodiments are described below to explain thepresent invention by referring to the accompanying drawings, however,the present invention is not limited thereto or restricted thereby.

When it is determined a detailed description related to a related knownfunction or configuration that may make the purpose of the presentinvention unnecessarily ambiguous in describing the present invention,the detailed description will be omitted here. Also, terms used hereinare defined to appropriately describe the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention and thus may be changed depending on a user, theintent of an operator, or a custom. Accordingly, the terms must bedefined based on the following overall description of thisspecification.

A cell association may indicate that a terminal connects to a basestation. For example, the terminal generating, performing, orestablishing the cell association with the base station may indicate theterminal connecting to the base station or the terminal generating orestablishing a link with the base station.

A downlink may refer to a link through which data or information istransmitted from the base station to the terminal. An uplink may referto a link through which data or information is transmitted from theterminal to the base station.

A protocol in which an uplink connection and a downlink connection areseparately performed will be provided hereinafter. For the separateconnections, the terminal may prepare a list of base stations availablefor the uplink connection using a strength of a received signaltransmitted from each base station through the downlink. The terminalmay transmit an uplink reference signal to each base station on thelist. Each base station receiving the uplink reference signal may sendinformation on a measured strength of the uplink received signal to adownlink base station of the terminal. Here, the downlink base stationmay refer to a base station with which a downlink is established withthe terminal. A conventional method may be used to establish thedownlink. The downlink base station may obtain and collect informationtransmitted from each base station and may transmit the collectedinformation to the terminal. Thus, the terminal may receive feedback onthe strength of the uplink received signal from each base station. Theterminal may use the received feedback for the uplink association. Also,each base station receiving the uplink reference signal may transmit astrength of a biased received signal which is the strength of the uplinkreceived signal to which a bias factor.

Each base station may calculate the strength of the biased receivedsignal by applying a separate bias factor suitable for a cell type and acell situation of the base station to the uplink received signal. Thecell type may be a macro cell or femto cell.

Each base station may transmit the calculated strength of the biasedreceived signal to the downlink base station through a backhaul network.The bias factor of the terminal with respect to the base station may bedetermined by applying a method predetermined by a system. An uplinkbias factor of the base station may be determined mainly by the basestation.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a base station 100according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The base station 100 may include a networking unit 110 and a processingunit 120.

The networking unit 110 may transmit data or information to a terminalor other base stations, and receive data or information from theterminal or the other base stations.

The processing unit 120 may generate data or information and transmitthe generated data or information to the terminal or the other basestations through the networking unit 110, and process data orinformation transmitted from the terminal or the other base stationsthrough the networking unit 110.

The processing unit 120 may include an uplink received signal strengthmeasurer 121, a bias factor measurer 122, and an uplink biased receivedsignal strength calculator 123.

The uplink received signal strength measurer 121 may measure a strengthof an uplink received signal.

The bias factor measurer 122 may determine a bias factor of an uplink.

The uplink biased received signal strength calculator 123 may calculatea strength of a biased received signal based on the strength of theuplink received signal and the bias factor.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal 200according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The terminal 200 may include a networking unit 210 and a processing unit220.

The networking unit 210 may transmit data or information to a terminalor other base stations, and receive data or information from theterminal or the other base stations. The networking unit 210 may set anuplink with an uplink base station. The networking unit 210 may set adownlink with a downlink base station.

The uplink base station may refer to a base station providing an uplinkto the terminal 200. The downlink base station may refer to a basestation providing a downlink to the terminal 200. The uplink may referto a link through which data is transmitted from the terminal 200 to anetwork. The downlink may refer to a link through which data istransmitted from the network to the terminal 200.

The processing unit 220 may include a downlink received signal strengthmeasurer 221, an uplink base station candidate determiner 222, and acell association determiner 223.

The downlink received signal strength measurer 221 may measure astrength of a downlink received signal.

The uplink base station candidate determiner 222 may determine candidatebase stations for the uplink base station based on the downlink receivedsignal.

The cell association determiner 223 may determine an uplink cellassociation based on uplink cell association information received fromthe downlink base station. The downlink may be determined based on thedownlink received signal.

FIG. 3 illustrates a connection method of a terminal that separates anuplink according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, base stations in a network may be candidate basestations for an uplink base station. A first uplink base station and asecond uplink base station are illustrated as the candidate basestations for the uplink base station. A downlink base station may alsobe included in the candidate base stations. The candidate base stationsmay be called an uplink base station candidate group.

The terminal may transmit an uplink reference signal to the uplink basestation candidate group in the network using a random access. Theterminal may determine the uplink base station candidate group based ona strength of a downlink reference signal.

The uplink reference signal may include an identifier (ID) of thedownlink base station and a reference signal flag variable. Thereference signal flag variable may indicate a purpose of the uplinkreference signal. The reference signal flag variable may indicatewhether the uplink reference signal is a signal for measuring the uplinkreference signal or a signal for the uplink cell association. Thus, abase station receiving the uplink reference signal may perceive adownlink base station to which the terminal is connected based on theidentifier of the downlink base station. Also, the base stationreceiving the uplink reference signal may identify whether the uplinkreference signal is the signal for measuring the uplink reference signalor the signal for the uplink cell association based on the referencesignal flag variable.

Each base station in the uplink base station candidate group may measurea strength of an uplink received signal based on the uplink referencesignal.

Each base station in the uplink base station candidate group maytransmit the measured strength of the uplink received signal, a biasfactor, and the identifier of the base station to the downlink basestation through a backhaul network. Each base station in the uplink basestation candidate group may report a strength of an uplink biasedreceived signal to the downlink base station.

The downlink base station may feed uplink base station information backto the terminal through the established downlink.

The terminal may establish an uplink cell association with one basestation in the uplink base station candidate group based on the uplinkbase station information. The base station with which the uplink cellassociation is established may become the uplink base station.

The backhaul network may refer to a wired or wireless backhaul.

FIG. 4 illustrates signal flow in an operating method of a networkaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an operating method of a terminal 402, a downlinkbase station 404, an uplink base station 406, and an adjacent basestation 408.

The downlink base station 404, the uplink base station 406, and theadjacent base station 408 may be a plurality of base stations in anetwork. The downlink base station 404 may be a base station connectedto the terminal 402 through a downlink. The adjacent base station 408and the uplink base station 406 may be base stations in an uplink basestation candidate group. The uplink base station 406 may be a basestation connected to the terminal 402 through an uplink among basestations in the uplink base station candidate group. The adjacent basestation 408 may refer to remaining base stations that may not beconnected to the terminal 402 through the uplink among the base stationsin the uplink base station candidate group.

Each of the downlink base station 404, the uplink base station 406, andthe adjacent base station 408 may correspond to the base station 100 ofFIG. 1. The terminal 402 may correspond to the terminal 200 of FIG. 2.

In operation 410, each of the base stations in the network may transmita downlink reference signal to the terminal 402. The base stations mayinclude the downlink base station 404, the uplink base station 406, andthe adjacent base station 408. Each of the base stations in the networkmay broadcast the downlink reference signal.

The terminal 402 may receive the downlink reference signal from each ofthe base stations. Here, a plurality of the downlink reference signalmay be provided. The terminal 402 may receive the downlink referencesignal broadcasted by each of the base stations.

The terminal 402 may include a base station transmitting the downlinkreference signal in the uplink base station candidate group.

In operation 420, the terminal 402 may measure a strength of thereceived downlink reference signal. The terminal 402 may measure thestrength of the signal received from each of the base stations based onthe received downlink reference signal.

In operation 425, the terminal 402 may determine the downlink basestation 404 from among the base stations based on the received downlinkreference signal. A base station determined first from among the basestations may be called a first base station.

The terminal 402 may determine the downlink base station 404 from amongthe base stations based on the measured strength of the downlinkreference signal. The terminal 402 may determine, as the downlink basestation 404, a base station transmitting the downlink reference signalhaving a greatest strength among downlink reference signals transmittedfrom the base stations.

In operation 430, a downlink connection between the terminal 402 and thedownlink base station 404 may occur. The downlink connection mayindicate a downlink cell association.

The terminal 402 may establish the downlink cell association with thedownlink base station 404. Also, the downlink base station 404 mayestablish the downlink cell association with the terminal 402.

In operation 440, the terminal 402 may transmit the uplink referencesignal to the base stations. The terminal 402 may transmit the uplinkreference signal to the base stations using a random access. The basestations may refer to base stations in the uplink base station candidategroup obtained based on the downlink reference signal received by theterminal 402 in operation 410.

In subsequent operations, one of the base stations may be selected asthe uplink base station 406 by the downlink base station 404. The basestation selected by the downlink base station 406 may be called a secondbase station. The uplink base station 406 may be the base stationselected, by the downlink base station 404, from among the base stationsto which the uplink reference signal is transmitted.

The uplink reference signal may include an identifier of the downlinkbase station 404 and an identifier of the terminal 402. The uplinkreference signal may include a reference signal flag variable. Thereference signal flag variable may indicate that the uplink referencesignal to be transmitted may be a signal for measuring the uplinkreference signal. Here, the measuring of the uplink reference signal mayindicate measuring a strength of the uplink reference signal.

The identifier of the downlink base station 404 and the reference signalflag variable that may be added to the uplink reference signal mayinclude a plurality of bits. The plurality of the bits may be acceptedby a conventional network system or a protocol. For example, the uplinkreference signal may be transmitted through a layer 2/layer 3 messageused for the random access in 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP)long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A). Information about the message maybe transmitted through a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Thus,the uplink reference signal may be transmitted through the PUSCH.

Each base station receiving the uplink reference signal may measure thestrength of the received uplink reference signal.

In operation 450, each of the base stations receiving the uplinkreference signal may transmit the strength of the received uplinkreference signal and a bias factor to the downlink base station 404. Thedownlink base station 404 may receive the strength of the uplinkreference signal and the bias factor transmitted from each of the basestations.

A detailed description of a method of determining the bias factor willbe provided hereinafter.

The base stations may identify the downlink base station 404 in thenetwork by referring to the identifier of the downlink base station 404in the uplink reference signal.

The strength of the uplink reference signal and the bias factor may betransmitted to the downlink base station 404 through the backhaulnetwork between the downlink base station 404 and each of the basestations.

In operation 455, the downlink base station 404 may determine the uplinkbase station 406 from among the base stations based on the strength ofthe uplink reference signal transmitted from each of the base stations.The uplink base station 406 may be a base station to provide the uplinkto the terminal 402.

The downlink base station 404 may identify a greatest value amongstrengths of uplink reference signals transmitted from the base stationsand determine a base station transmitting the greatest value to be theuplink base station 406.

The downlink base station 404 may determine the uplink base station 406based on the strength of the uplink reference signal and the bias factortransmitted from each of the base stations.

The downlink base station 404 may determine the uplink base station 406among the base stations based on a strength of a biased received signal.The strength of the biased received signal may be a strength of avirtual received signal generated by applying the bias factor to anactual strength of the uplink reference signal. The downlink basestation 404 may calculate strengths of biased received signals for eachbase station based on the strength of the uplink reference signal andthe bias factor transmitted from each of the base stations. The downlinkbase station 404 may determine, as the uplink base station 406, a basestation corresponding to the strength of the biased received signalhaving the greatest value among the calculated strengths of the biasedreceived signals.

In operation 460, the downlink base station 404 may feed the uplink basestation information back to the terminal 402. The uplink base stationinformation may be the identifier of the uplink base station 406providing the uplink to the terminal 402 among the base stations. Thedownlink base station 404 may transmit the identifier of the uplink basestation 406 to the terminal 402, and the terminal 402 may receive theidentifier of the uplink base station 406 from the downlink base station404 through the downlink.

In operation 470, an uplink connection between the terminal 402 and theuplink base station 406 may occur. The uplink connection may indicate anuplink cell association.

The terminal 402 may establish the uplink cell association with theuplink base station 406 based on identifier of the uplink base station406. The terminal 402 may identify the uplink base station 406 from thebase stations in the network based on the identifier of the uplink basestation 406 and request the uplink cell association from the identifieduplink base station 406.

In operations 480 and 485, the terminal 402 may communicate using theestablished uplink and the downlink.

In operation 480, the terminal 402 may perform downlink communicationwith the downlink base station 404. The terminal 402 may receive datafrom the network through the downlink with the downlink base station404.

In operation 485, the terminal 402 may perform uplink communication withthe uplink base station 406. The terminal 402 may transmit data to thenetwork through the uplink with the uplink base station 406.

The terminal 402 may communicate with an optimal base station for eachof the uplink and the downlink through the foregoing separatedconnections.

Information needed to establish the uplink cell association is providedin Table 1.

TABLE 1 Information Description of Information Uplink base station Alist of candidate base stations for an uplink base station to candidategroup be determined based on a downlink reference signal received by aterminal. Identifier (ID) of An ID of a downlink base station to which aterminal is downlink base connected. The connection may be a cellassociation. station Reference signal A flag variable indicating apurpose of an uplink reference flag variable signal. The variable istransmitted to candidate base stations in an uplink base stationcandidate group through a random access. For example, when a value ofthe variable “ReferenceFlag” is “1,” an uplink reference signal may befor measuring the uplink reference signal. When a value of theReferenceFlag is “0,” the uplink reference signal may be for an uplinkconnection. ID of terminal A unique ID of a terminal, or a temporary IDassigned by a base station. Strength of uplink A strength of an uplinkreference signal measured by a base received signal station. Bias factorA value of a bias factor determined by a base station. ID of uplink baseAn ID of an uplink base station determined by a downlink station basestation based on a strength of an uplink received signal and a biasfactor.

In Table 1, the identifier of the downlink base station, the identifierof the terminal, the strength of the uplink received signal, and theidentifier of the uplink base station may be information used in aconventional network system or a conventional protocol.

The operations described with reference to FIG. 4 may be performed bythe base station 100 of FIG. 1 and the terminal 200 of FIG. 2.

For example, a networking unit 210 of the terminal 200 may receive thedownlink reference signal from each of the base stations in the network.A processing unit 220 of the terminal 200 may measure the strength ofthe downlink reference signal and select the downlink base station 404from among the base stations in the network based on the measuredstrength.

The processing unit 220 may establish the downlink cell association withthe downlink base station 404 through the networking unit 210. Thenetworking unit 210 may receive the identifier of the uplink basestation 406 providing the uplink from the downlink base station 404 tothe terminal 200 through the downlink. Also, the processing unit 220 mayestablish the uplink cell association with the uplink base station 406based on the identifier of the uplink base station 406 through thenetworking unit 210.

The networking unit 210 may transmit the uplink reference signal to thebase stations in the network.

The processing unit 220 may communicate using the uplink and thedownlink through the networking unit 210.

A processing unit 120 of the base station 100 may establish the downlinkcell association with the terminal 200 through a networking unit 110 ofthe base station 100. The networking unit 110 may receive a strength ofthe uplink reference signal from each of the base stations in thenetwork.

The processing unit 120 may determine the uplink base station 406providing the uplink to the terminal 200 based on the strength of theuplink reference signal. The networking unit 110 may transmit theidentifier of the determined uplink base station 406 to the terminal200.

The processing unit 120 may determine the uplink base station 406 basedon the strength of the uplink reference signal and the bias factortransmitted from each of the base stations in the network.

FIG. 5 illustrates a communication method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

When the terminal 402 connects to the downlink base station 404 and theuplink base station 406 by separating a downlink and an uplink, theterminal 402 may perform data communication with an optimal base stationfor each of the downlink and the uplink through a separate cellassociation.

A downlink control channel and a downlink data channel may beestablished between the terminal 402 and the downlink base station 404.Similarly, an uplink control channel and an uplink data channel may beestablished between the terminal 402 and the uplink base station 406.

The terminal 402 may receive downlink control information for thedownlink through the downlink control channel of the downlink basestation 404.

The terminal 402 may receive uplink control information for the uplinkthrough the downlink control channel or the uplink control channel ofthe uplink base station 406. Control information for a conventionalnetwork system or a conventional protocol may be used as the controlinformation for the base station. In a case of 3GPP LTE-A, the terminal402 may receive the uplink control information using a control channelof a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical layerdownlink shared channel (PDSCH).

A detailed description of a method of determining a bias factor of anuplink will be provided hereinafter.

The base station 100 of FIG. 1 may determine, as a value of the biasfactor, a value that may maximize a metric to be suitable for a networksystem. The base station 100 may determine the bias factor or the valueof the bias factor using a predetermined method.

The bias factor may be used to set the uplink. Thus, the bias factor maybe an uplink bias factor. Each base station in an uplink base stationcandidate group may determine or calculate respective bias factors.

The bias factor may be determined based on a performance metric. Theperformance metric may include an average transmission rate of the basestation 100 and an average transmission rate of the terminal 200 of FIG.2. The bias factor may be determined based on at least one of an averagetransmission rate of the uplink base station 406 and an averagetransmission rate of the terminal 402.

The bias factor may be determined based on Equation 1.

$\begin{matrix}{\eta_{j}^{*} = {\underset{\eta}{\arg\mspace{11mu}\max}\mspace{14mu}{F_{j}\left( \eta_{j} \right)}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In Equation 1, “F_(j)” may denote a performance metric of a j^(th) basestation among base stations in a network. Also, F_(j) may be theperformance metric with respect to an uplink of the j^(th) base station.

For example, F_(j) may denote a function indicating a purpose of thej^(th) base station or a purpose of a network system. The purpose may beto maximize a data transmission quantity of the j^(th) base station orto maximize an overall data transmission quantity of the network system.

η may denote a set of uplink candidate values η*_(j) may denote adetermined uplink. Also, η*_(j) may be a value that maximizes aresulting value of F_(j) among the values in η. The bias factor may bean input value that may maximize a result value obtained based on aperformance metric, among input values given to a base station.

A value that may maximize a value of a given performance metric may beselected as an uplink value from among the uplink candidate values.

A strength of a biased received signal may be determined based onEquation 2.P _(j,n)=ƒ(η*_(j) P _(j,n))  [Equation 2]

In Equation 2, “ƒ” may denote a function determining the strength of thebiased received signal. P_(j,n) may denote an actual strength of anuplink received signal for a j^(th) base station and an n^(th) terminal.An input value of the ƒ may be a bias factor and the actual strength ofthe uplink received signal. Alternatively, the input value of the ƒ maybe a multiplication of the bias factor and the actual strength of theuplink received signal.

P _(j,n) may denote a calculated strength of the biased received signalfor the j^(th) base station and the n^(th) terminal.

The bias factor may be used in accordance with a purpose of the networksystem. For example, as in Equation 2, the bias factor may be multipliedby the actual strength of the uplink received signal. Alternatively, thebias factor may divide the actual strength of the uplink receivedsignal. A result obtained from the multiplying or the dividing may beused as the input value of ƒ. The bias factor may be used to adjust thestrength of the uplink received signal to appear to be greater orsmaller.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cell area according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

As described in the foregoing with reference to FIG. 5, control channelsfor data communication of each link may be completely separated withrespect to a downlink and an uplink. Thus, a downlink and uplinkseparated terminal connection may be achieved.

When the downlink and uplink separated terminal connection is applied, adownlink coverage area may differ from an uplink coverage areaillustrated in FIG. 6. Here, the uplink coverage area may be a biaseduplink coverage area.

FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating a coverage probability of an uplink in acase of a divided terminal connection according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Embodiments described herein may enable a separate uplink cellassociation without numerous modifications to a conventional networksystem or a conventional protocol. The embodiments may provide a methodfor an uplink cell association without a modification to a downlink cellassociation and thus, backward compatibility may be maintained.Accordingly, the embodiments may be applicable to various standards fora cellular network that is currently used for a commercial purpose. Thestandards may include a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA),3GPP LTE, and LTE-A.

Also, a downlink and an uplink terminal connection may separately occurand thus, a loss in a signal to interference-noise ratio (SINR) may notbe incurred in comparison to a terminal connection based solely on asituation of a single link, and a data transmission rate may beimproved.

Further, a terminal connection based on a bias factor to which a currentsituation of a base station is applied may occur with respect to anuplink and thus, an issue of load balancing among base stations may beseparately solved with respect to a downlink.

Furthermore, due to a bias factor determined based on a purpose of anetwork system, a cell association of a terminal may be managed inaccordance with the purpose of the system.

The graph of FIG. 7 may indicate the coverage probability of the uplinkwhen the separated terminal connection is used. The coverage probabilitymay denote a probability of an SINR of the terminal being greater than apredetermined SINR limit T, which may be represented by “SINR>T.” Asillustrated in FIG. 7, when the cell association based on the uplink isperformed, the coverage probability of the uplink may be improved.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided amethod and an apparatus that may perform a separate connection withrespect to a downlink and an uplink.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a method and an apparatus that may determine an uplink basestation based on a strength of a received signal and a bias factor.

The units described herein may be implemented using hardware componentsand software components. For example, the hardware components mayinclude microphones, amplifiers, band-pass filters, audio to digitalconvertors, and processing devices. A processing device may beimplemented using one or more general-purpose or special purposecomputers, such as, for example, a processor, a controller and anarithmetic logic unit, a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, afield programmable array, a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor orany other device capable of responding to and executing instructions ina defined manner. The processing device may run an operating system (OS)and one or more software applications that run on the OS. The processingdevice also may access, store, manipulate, process, and create data inresponse to execution of the software. For purpose of simplicity, thedescription of a processing device is used as singular; however, oneskilled in the art will appreciated that a processing device may includemultiple processing elements and multiple types of processing elements.For example, a processing device may include multiple processors or aprocessor and a controller. In addition, different processingconfigurations are possible, such a parallel processors.

The software may include a computer program, a piece of code, aninstruction, or some combination thereof, to independently orcollectively instruct or configure the processing device to operate asdesired. Software and data may be embodied permanently or temporarily inany type of machine, component, physical or virtual equipment, computerstorage medium or device, or in a propagated signal wave capable ofproviding instructions or data to or being interpreted by the processingdevice. The software also may be distributed over network coupledcomputer systems so that the software is stored and executed in adistributed fashion. The software and data may be stored by one or morenon-transitory computer readable recording mediums. The non-transitorycomputer readable recording medium may include any data storage devicethat can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system orprocessing device.

The above-described exemplary embodiments of the present invention maybe recorded in non-transitory computer-readable media including programinstructions to implement various operations embodied by a computer. Themedia may also include, alone or in combination with the programinstructions, data files, data structures, and the like. Examples ofnon-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic media such ashard disks, floppy discs, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CDROM discs and DVDs; magneto-optical media such as floptical discs; andhardware devices that are specially configured to store and performprogram instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM), random accessmemory (RAM), flash memory, and the like. Examples of programinstructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler,and files containing higher level code that may be executed by thecomputer using an interpreter. The described hardware devices may beconfigured to act as one or more software modules in order to performthe operations of the above-described exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, or vice versa.

Although a few exemplary embodiments of the present invention have beenshown and described, the present invention is not limited to thedescribed exemplary embodiments. Instead, it would be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that changes may be made to these exemplaryembodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of theinvention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An operating method of a network comprising atleast a base station, the method comprising: transmitting, performed byeach of base stations, a downlink reference signal to a terminal;receiving, performed by a first base station, a strength of the downlinkreference signal from the terminal; establishing, performed by the firstbase station, a downlink cell association with the terminal;determining, performed by the first base station, an identifier of asecond base station providing an uplink control channel; transmitting,performed by the first base station, the identifier of a second basestation through the downlink cell association; and establishing,performed by the second base station, an uplink cell association withthe terminal.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the strength of thedownlink reference signal is measured by the terminal.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein a base station candidate group is updated by theterminal based on the strength of the downlink reference signal.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, performed by thesecond base station, an uplink reference signal.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein the first base station is a macro base station and the secondbase station is a small base station.
 6. A base station, comprising: anetworking unit configured to transmit a downlink reference signal to aterminal; and a processor configured to establish a downlink cellassociation with the terminal, wherein the processor further configuredto determine an identifier of a second base station providing an uplinkcontrol channel, and wherein the networking unit further configured toreceive a strength of the downlink reference signal from the terminal,and to transmit the identifier of the second base station through thedownlink cell association.
 7. The base station of claim 6, wherein thebase station is a macro base station and the second base station is asmall base station.
 8. An operating method of a terminal performed bythe terminal, the method comprising: receiving a downlink referencesignal from each of base stations; measuring a strength of the downlinkreference signal; updating a base station candidate group by adding atleast one base station among the base stations to the base stationcandidate group; establishing a downlink cell association with a firstbase station; receiving an identifier of a second base station providingan uplink control channel from the first base station through thedownlink cell association, wherein the second base station is selectedby the first base station; and establishing an uplink cell associationwith the second base station based on the identifier of the second basestation.